We are pleased to welcome the newest members of the Local 264 Family. Last week, nearly one year after voting to become Teamsters, and following nine months of tough contract negotiations, 10 Route Sales Drivers employed by Costanzo Bakery ratified their first contract.

In addition to the protection of rights afforded by a collective bargaining agreement, the three year deal guarantees; annual increases to the base salary, an increase to the commission rate, drastically reduces the employee contributions for Healthcare, increases paid holidays from two to six and increases the amount of vacation for all drivers with more than two years seniority.

As you know, prior to the Memorial Day Recess, the Senate passed Trade Promotion Authority, or Fast Track, which cedes Congressional powers to the President to enter into free trade deals.The Senate's passage was not unexpected, but it's important to note that both Senators Schumer and Gillibrand stood with working men and women by voting against the bill.

Now, the fight moves to the House, where our opportunity to defeat Fast Track has always been.The House is expected to take up the bill within the next 2 weeks. As such, we need to ramp-up constituent contacts from our members.

This Wednesday, June 3, is a National call-in day. We are asking everyone to call their Representatives by Texting TPP to 877877. After texting, you will be prompted to enter your address, and then will automatically be connected to the Washington office of your Congressperson.

Please make the call, it only takes a few minutes of your time . After you have done your part share the text number with your friends and family and ask them to help save american jobs.

Women lawmakers took center stage today on Capitol Hill to demand fair pay for female workers in honor of Equal Pay Day. And the Teamsters are standing with them.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), a repeated sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, led the charge in urging Congress to take up and pass the legislation. The measure would help close the wage gap between women and men working equivalent jobs. The pay disparity costs women and their families $434,000 over the length of their careers.

She said:

We need to get equal pay in our law books and equal pay in our checkbooks, and to finally get rid of the harassment and intimidation women face in the marketplace when they even ask about how much pay they make or try to identify how much pay they should make.

As it stands, women on average earn only 78 cents to every dollar made by a male. The Paycheck Fairness Act builds on the promise of the Equal Pay Act passed in 1963. It would empower women to negotiate for fair pay, close loopholes courts have created in the law, create incentives for companies to obey laws and bolster enforcement efforts.

The Teamsters are a strong supporter of the legislation. General President Jim Hoffa sent a letter to senators last fall telling them it was well past time for them to back efforts to equalize pay so that workers can better support their families.

The pay gap has barely budged in more than a decade. It hits nearly every occupation and is even worse for women of color. This not just a low-income problem. It is an every women problem. It is an American families problem.

It may be the 21st century, but for too many women it might as well be the Dark Ages. It is time for all of Congress to take a stand against this blatant inequity.

The Teamsters Union today applauded President Obama’s decision to veto a destructive resolution backed by Republicans in Congress that would overturn modest reforms issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to help streamline and modernize representation case procedures.

S.J. Res. 8, which passed both the Senate and House in early March, would have undermined the final rule the NLRB issued in December 2014 to help simplify the process through which workers can seek union representation in the private sector.

“President Obama has stood strong on the side of working people today by sending a clear message to those interests that would seek to discourage and suppress those seeking union representation,” said Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa. “The reforms outlined by the NLRB rule do nothing more than improve and modernize the election process. There is no acceptable reason for anyone to stand in the way of this progress.”

The final rule includes the following reforms:

Provides for electronic filing and transmission of election petitions and other documents;

Ensures that employees, employers and unions receive timely information they need to understand and participate in the representation case process;

Eliminates or reduces unnecessary litigation, duplication and delay;

Adopts best practices and uniform procedures across regions;

Requires that additional contact information (personal telephone numbers and email addresses) be included in voter lists, to the extent that information is available to the employer, in order to enhance a fair and free exchange of ideas by permitting other parties to the election to communicate with voters about the election using modern technology; and

Allows parties to consolidate all election-related appeals to the Board into a single appeals process.

By signing into law a bill making Wisconsin the 25th Right-to-work-for-less state, Wisconsin Govenor and 2016 Presidential candidate Scott Walker didn't just deal a blow to Unions, he dealt a blow to our entire Democracy.

Please take the time to view the short clip below to better understand what Right-to-work-for-less means to us all.

She has worked advocating on behalf of and alongside low-wage workers since 2011 as the Project Director of the Western New York Worker Center, a project of the Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health (WNYCOSH) a non-profit organization in Buffalo, NY. Her past work includes organizing for the Working Families Party and the New York State Senate to create change for working class and low-income people in her home state.

“While working men and women have long known the value of a dollar—it is a lesson well taught to one who labors for a living—it has taken a long, long time to teach employers the value of a human being, and in many cases has not yet been successfully taught. Few give thought to what happens to displaced workers, but they can analyze to the penny what the profits will be.” –James R. Hoffa

Each year in February, Teamsters take a moment to reflect upon and remember a leader who changed the course of history for working men and women in America. James R. Hoffa, born February 14, 1913, served as General President of the Teamsters Union from 1957 to 1971. In that time, he inspired thousands to stand up and let their voices be heard.

His words, spoken more than 50 years ago, resonate just as profoundly today as they did then.

As General President, Hoffa honed his well-earned reputation as a tough and effective bargainer, and gained the respect of labor and business leaders alike across the country. He worked hard to expand the number of working men and women who were protected by union contracts and, under his leadership, the union’s membership rose to include more than 2 million workers.

Hoffa’s crowning achievement was the 1964 National Master Freight Agreement, which united more than 400,000 over-the-road drivers under one contract. This contract, a feat that had been declared virtually impossible by many, lifted more workers out of poverty and into the middle class than any other single event in labor history. Congressman Elmer Holland (D-PA) was quoted as saying, “Jimmy Hoffa has put more bread and butter on the tables for American kids than all his detractors put together.”

“My father’s devotion to the Teamsters and their families was—and remains—legendary. His whole life was dedicated to bettering the lives of America’s working families,” said James P. Hoffa, General President of the Teamsters Union. “I can think of no better way to honor his legacy than to continue fighting on behalf of working people everywhere.”

FIGHT FOR $15

Teamsters Local #264 is looking to mobilize a panel of members to bring about change for low wage workers. Positive results such as the Seattle Washington $15 Minimum Wage Legislation, the San Francisco Worker’s Bill of Rights, and the New York City Earned Sick Time Act are some of the area’s community based organizations such as the Coalition for Economic Justice are on the front lines of.

Many developed countries have paid sick time legislation for their workers and this practicality is finally becoming a realization in some areas of the United States. The Buffalo News reported on January 17, 2015 that a majority of students in America are now living in poverty. Stopping the disparity of wealth in this nation will help ensure working people of the ability to provide for their family’s without government assistance.

Any member interested in learning more or is willing to work voluntarily with myself and a number of these community based organizations along with organized labor, kindly contact Darrin Ziemba at (716)668-8007 x120 and we will get to work.

XPO Logistics is a top ten global logistics and transportation company with annual revenue of $15 billion and 89,000 employees, another 10,000 workers classified as independent contractors, and thousands more working for firms that subcontract with XPO. We are the REAL workers at XPO Logistics worldwide exposing the truth about the company’s global greed, illegal wage theft, unsafe conditions, and abhorrent and vicious anti-worker, anti-union tactics.

This greed includes mistreating former Con-way Freight workers in the United States who are being kept in the dark about terminal closures and layoffs, and the company’s illegal refusal to bargain contracts and denying their workers’ federally protected right to organize. It also includes port, rail and last-mile drivers around the country and in Southern California fighting wage theft in excess of $200 million because they are misclassified as independent contractors and denied the right to form their union. This greed has caused numerous lawsuits and strikes. Greed also means an unsafe workplace and mistreating its warehouse employees.

XPO’s greed extends to Europe beginning with breaking its promise to not layoff any workers for at least 18 months. French workers and the unions have been fighting back against XPO’s disrespect, lies and attempts to slash jobs. Similar struggles are taking place in Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and across Europe.

Join the worldwide struggle now! Get involved with this campaign by joining the Facebook group “XPO Exposed.”

Together, we can eXPOse the company’s global greed and win fairness, respect and dignity for tens of thousands of XPO employees around the world!

Workers’ pensions are being endangered by both Congress and those charged with overseeing them. The Teamsters and our members are standing united to say “No!” to cuts and “Yes!” to greater retirement security!

The ‘Let’s Get America Working!’ campaign seeks to restore a dynamic and prosperous middle class to drive economic growth by helping to advance policy decisions that create and maintain good middle-income jobs, guarantee retirement security, expand access to the American Dream, and ensure that the benefits of the ongoing economic recovery are felt by the many, not just the few.

This webpage provides information on the Teamsters Union’s legislative advocacy at both the federal and state level as well as our field activity to support those policy positions and to get strong labor candidates elected to office. Among other resources, you will find our federal legislative scorecard, formal statements of policy position and communications to Capitol Hill, a weekly update on federal legislative happenings, an overview of bills we are tracking at the state level, and quick links to take action on priority issues.

This web page provides information on the ongoing effort to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Since 1994, NAFTA has devastated working families, putting corporate profits ahead of people. What’s worse is that NAFTA has become the blueprint for all other trade agreements, from the way that it was negotiated in secret, to the bad provisions that have made their way into every agreement that has been signed since then. Now, NAFTA is being renegotiated and we demand that it be reframed to work for workers instead of corporate interests.

The Teamsters have stood in solidarity with worker struggles in other countries since our founding. With economic globalization, our ability to organize increasingly depends on our ability to build alliances with workers on a global scale.
More than ever, Teamsters are organizing and bargaining with multi-national companies. A key objective of our Global Strategies Campaign is to build strong alliances with unions around the globe who organize and bargain with common employers. Our focus is on workers in the emerging global supply chains – the infrastructure of globalization.
Globalization creates new opportunities for international worker solidarity. We seek common cause with workers around the world to build social justice for all workers and the communities in which they live.